An Artificial Intelligence Tool for Accessible Science Education

Autor/inn/en	Watters, Jacob; Hill, April; Weinrich, Mellissa; Supalo, Cary; Jiang, Feng
Titel	An Artificial Intelligence Tool for Accessible Science Education
Quelle	In: Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities, 24 (2021) 1, (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1940-9923
Schlagwörter	Artificial Intelligence; Science Education; Science Laboratories; Access to Education; Academic Accommodations (Disabilities); Hands on Science; Blindness; Visual Impairments; Students with Disabilities; Technology Uses in Education; Handheld Devices; Inclusion + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Künstliche Intelligenz; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Blindheit; Visual handicap; Sehbehinderung; Student; Students; Disability; Disabilities; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Behinderung; Technology enhanced learning; Technology aided learning; Technologieunterstütztes Lernen; Inklusion
Abstract	One of the most important issues in accessible science education is creating a laboratory workspace accessible to blind students or students with visual impairments (VI). Although these students are often provided access to the science lectures, they are usually denied full participation in hands-on laboratory work. Current solutions to this problem focus on providing special accommodations such as asking sighted lab partners to complete the hands-on work. Although the accessibility of laboratory devices in modern science education has been improved in recent years, students with VI often remain passive learners. In this work, we developed a new artificial intelligence tool, the MSU Denver Virtual Lab Assistant (VLA), using Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), Alexa smart speaker, and a microcontroller (Raspberry Pi). The VLA can be used as a virtual assistant in the lab in combination with other access technologies and devices. The VLA allows students with VI to perform the hands-on laboratory work by themselves simply using voice control. The VLA can be accessed through any smartphone or Amazon Echo device to assist general science lab procedures. The VLA is designed to be applicable to different science laboratory work. It is also compatible with other common accessible electronic devices such as the Talking LabQuest (TLQ). We believe that the VLA can promote the inclusion of learners with VI and be beneficial to general accessible science education work. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01